


Crushed

by owlmoose



Series: From Dust We Came [4]
Category: Dragon Age, Dragon Age: Origins
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Expanded canon scene, F/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-26
Updated: 2012-08-26
Packaged: 2017-11-12 23:22:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/496809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlmoose/pseuds/owlmoose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not every reunion in Orzammar comes off quite as Kasia Brosca had hoped.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crushed

All the time they were fighting though the Carta hideout, cutting through thugs and mercenaries to get to Jarvia, Kasia couldn’t decide whether she wanted to come up against Leske or not. She didn’t want to fight him, but she did want to know why he had betrayed her. Or maybe she’d just stab him in the heart, in return for him breaking hers.

Now here he was, dead at her feet, and she knew even less about how she felt. She stared down at his body and wondered who had killed him. She’d been so intent on reaching Jarvia that she could have knifed him in the gut or the back and never even noticed. But no, his head was bashed in, a mess of brain and splintered bone resting in a pool of blood. Probably Shale, then, or maybe a hit from Alistair’s shield. She started to turn around to ask the question, then stopped herself. Probably better if she didn't know.

His armor was secondhand patchwork crap — not exactly a trusted second, then, or Jarvia would have given him better. She looted the body anyway, going through his pockets more or less out of habit, but a part of also looking for an answer to the puzzle of why he had turned on her. A note, a love trinket, something. But all she found were a few silver pieces. She thought about throwing the coins back into his ruined face; Instead, her hand closed around them, nails digging into her palm. “Whatever she offered you, I hope it was worth it,” she muttered through clenched teeth. “Fucking duster.” She turned her back on him, and on Alistair and Wynne’s worried looks, and finished working over the room. There wouldn’t be answers here, but she might as well make some coin.

-x-

After meeting with Bhelen to report the breaking of the Carta, Kasia sought out Rica, the one person in the world who might understand. For once, she asked her companions to wait in the hallway. Usually she didn't care what they saw or heard, but she wasn’t feeling like showing this much weakness in front of anyone else.

Rica took one look at Kasia’s face and sent their mother out of the room. “I hear you’re gong after Branka,” she said.

Kasia shrugged. “One more errand before your patron will give me what I need. This better be the end of it.” She looked at the ground, shuffled her feet. “Leske was working for Jarvia. When I took her out, I had to kill him, too.”

Rica looked at her with sad eyes. “Oh Kas. I’m sorry. That must hurt."

“Not as much as it hurt that he betrayed me to her.” Kasia felt her fists tightening again. “Why did he do it? That sodding duster. He was even sleeping with the bitch! How could her trust her, after what she and Beraht did to us?!”

Rica took Kasia’s hands in her own and began massaging out the tension in her knuckles. “Leske isn’t as strong as you. He always digs where the ground is soft.”

Kasia frowned. “He’s no paragon or anything. I always knew that. But at least I thought he was a decent man.”

“Leske?” Ruca shook her head. “Maybe he would have been, if it had been easy. He’s not like you, little sister. You’re a good person, even when it’s hard.”

Kasia flushed and looked away. “Oh Rica. You don’t know half of what I’ve done. I’ve killed a lot of people. Not just when I was working for Beraht, either.” She thought of Isolde, of the fanatics in Haven, the townspeople in Lothering who had just wanted the Grey Warden bounty money to feed their families. “Some had it coming, but others were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I wonder how good I am, really.”

Rica smiled. “You’re asking the question, aren’t you? That’s what really matters.” She drew Kasia in for a hug, and Kasia rested her head on her sister’s shoulder, allowed a few tears to fall. “You’ve done so much good, and I know you’ll do more.” It was reassuring, but the words were an eerie echo of what Leske’s dream had said in the Gauntlet, and Kasia had to fight a shudder. Rica patted Kasia in the back, then let her go, eyes concerned as she looked Kasia over. “You’ll be all right?”

Kasia shrugged. “Yeah. I’ll see you later.” She left the room and the palace, passing her companions with a nod: time to get moving. She was going to resupply for the Deep Roads, and then she was going back to camp. Time to stop playing the coy flirt with Zevran and invite him into her tent, where she would fuck him senseless. Or, more to the point, get him to fuck her senseless — tonight, she needed to not think, not worry, not wonder, and certainly not feel. She was going to lose herself in his arms, and then maybe she could finally leave that bastard behind.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Rubble (The No Place Like Home Remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4177536) by [Moontyger](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moontyger/pseuds/Moontyger)




End file.
